| Dire Squirrel |
I'm a first-time DM running Legacy of Fire under PFRPG. The party just reached level 2, and I noticed that, not only have they not found any scrolls or spellbooks, there aren't any in this entire 1/6 of the AP. (For those not familiar with LoF: this part of the AP takes place in the desert without any easy access to settlements or shops.)
I feel that this is a problem for the Wizard in the party, because while other players are/will be getting fun new magic weapons, armor, trinkets, etc., he can't learn any more than the two spells per level granted by his class. Would it be un-balancing to pepper their treasure with random scrolls and spellbooks for him to fill up his spellbook?
| ziltmilt |
Would it be un-balancing to pepper their treasure with random scrolls and spellbooks for him to fill up his spellbook?
No, I don't believe so. In fact, I think you should add a few. In fact, you should feel free to modify listed treasure to better fit the composition of your party.
Velcro Zipper
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If you're that concerned about maintaining game balance don't give him any spells you think will make him too powerful. You control the treasure they find so actively pick out some useful spells the wizard may have neglected to take. My experience is that wizard players are generally happy to find any spells they can add to their book for free. If the wizard is focused on combat, give him something like Unseen Servant or Feather Fall. If he's a wizard with a lot of utility spells, throw him a low level attack or defense spell. If he's a got good mix of everything, dig up an interesting spell from an old Dragon magazine or a splat book or something else he's never heard of that isn't going to break the game.
azhrei_fje
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I also find that even a relatively empty spellbook that has one spell of a level that the wizard can't cast yet will really motivate the PC and the player!
So if he's 4th level, put just a single 3rd level spell in the book, then maybe two or three 2nd level spells, and another two or three 1st level. You want the value of the spellbook to be slightly less than might be expected (compared to the rest of the party), but to give the player some anticipation about how great their PC is going to be "in just one more level". :-)
| Sigurd |
I think a lot of DM's shortchange wizards for scrolls and spells. That leaves the players with only the big damage spells or the must haves and deprives them of some of the weird and wonderful possibilities.
There are a lot of spellcasters whose primary focus for spells is not combat but you'd never know it looking at some tables.
| DM_Blake |
Agreed with the above, add what your player needs to feel like he's getting a fair share.
But I want to add that this isn't just a problem for wizards. Another class that almost always gets a raw deal in treasure hoards is the Monk. I played/read through the entire Coucil of Thieves AP and there was not a single "monk" item in any treasure in the game. Sure, he can use a ring of protection, so can everyone else. But there were no monk robes, monk weapons, amulet of mighty fists, etc. - nothing that said "hey, monk, here's something just for you".
In fact, there almost never is. I sure find more scrolls/spellbooks than monk items in any published adventure (well, except those that are specifically of an oriental flavor).
Other specialist items get neglected too. Druid vestments, holy swords, bardic music instruments, etc.
So my advice is, be aware of special-needs characters in the party, and don't be afraid to replace the 27th Weapon +X with something cool for the group specialists, especially if you feel like they've been getting passed over for useful treasure.
| Utgardloki |
My experience has been that as a wizard it is pretty easy to buy scrolls for the spells I want, and then copy them into the spellbook. Granted, per 3rd edition rules this is expensive, but most DMs (including me) waived the fee for copying a spell into a book.
It is harder to get higher level spells this way.
In my own game, it is also possible to buy a Wizard's Guild membership, and then the Guild Libraries are open to your character. You might not be able to find every spell in every library, and some spells might need searching for.
There are also spellbooks and scrolls from NPC wizards, especially evil wizards whose books and scrolls could be claimed as booty. I would imagine that it would also be possible to buy books and scrolls from merchants. (Moldo the Magnificent died, and nobody who knew him knew how to read his book, so they sold it to a travelling dwarf who sold it to a bookseller in the city...)
I'm always making it possible to find new and unusual spells this way. Perhaps Moldo's book has a spell or two from the Rokugan book. It does not necessarily mean that it came from Rokugan, but someone in the area researched or learned a similar spell.
I'm also often getting ideas for spells that I randomly insert into the campaign.
| HalfOrcHeavyMetal |
Given the Desert environment you have described (more's the pity, I have yet to start work on any Paizo-crafted campaigns, still got the effing homebrews to chew through yet!), finding an ancient scroll or three in a ruined structure and, as has been stated above, including spells that the player cannot use yet could be quite interesting.
I recall there was some spells that were cursed that were listed in on of the Dungeons or Dragons magazines, every casting had a cumulative 1% of summoning a Mummy that, if it killed the caster, turned his body into black sand and took his soul deep into the underworld. If I, or somebody else, can dig those up, throw one of those at the Player, give them a 'big hitter' spell that they know with each casting they move closer and closer to their doom.
Alternatively, they could stumble across a ruin while seeking shelter from a storm and the Party could encounter a friendly (Or at least neutral) Ghost who, for the pittance of uncovering his remains and giving him a funeral pyre in the tradition of his people (he is a long, long, long way from home and wishes for a 'proper' funeral not this burial garbage the natives performed) the PCs are rewarded with his gear, including items for the other players, and the Wizard in question is given a Wizard's Book and told "This came from the hands of a Wizard who once styled himself the Overlord of my Clan. While the spells within it are beyond my grasp, someday you might learn to master them, and use them for a more worthy cause."
That Wizard will ALWAYS remember that spellbook as the one he got helping put a soul to it's final rest, and might lead to a plot-hook in which the PCs are being tracked down by the grand-child of that would-be tyrant, who wants the Spellbook because it is part of a mystical key that will grant him/her/it access to the dead tyrant's True Grimoire and the secrets of Self-Induced Vampirism.